From the Moleskine: The Spectacular Now (Part 1)

I’m only about 70 pages in, but I’m feeling slightly uncomfortable while reading this. Around page 10 a creeping feeling of “This just isn’t right” started to overcome me. Is it the main character, Sutter, that makes me uneasy? Or, is it his frank admission and justification of alcoholism that has me slighty on edge? I like Sutter, so I think I’ll go with the latter. God, I sound like such a Puritan. (I swear I’m not.) I generally detest preachy didactic books. I’d rather feel uneasy and uncomfortable while reading than have a moral bashed into my head. The uncomfortable books are the ones that stick with me.

Perhaps Sutter’s drinking and his rationalization unnerves me, not because of philosophical or moral opposition to alcohol, but because I can’t help but wonder what horrible fate will befall him? Or am I expecting/hoping for something tragic? Is that what I’ve come to expect, not only from books but from life?

It always amazes me how much one’s reaction to a book can reveal more about the reader than the book.